Three Rivers, MI: Michigan Central Air Line and NYC/LS&MS Depots

LS&MS = Lake Shore and Michigan Southern

Thomas Bowers posted
This is an eastbound MCRR train from Niles, Mi. on the (Air Line) to Jackson, at Three Rivers around 1908. The track to the left would connect off the Air Line to the Kalamazoo to Elkhart Branch

Steve Houts commented on Thomas' post
Here is NYC depot in Three Rivers on Kalamazoo branch that Grand Elk runs today. Depot burned in 1970s.

NYC acquired LS&MS decades before it acquired MC. That is why the north/south LS&MS route is labeled NYC, but the east/west route is still labeled MC.

1916/16 Three Rivers Quad @ 62,500

I knew that Michigan Central originally went west from Detroit until it got close to Lake Michigan, and then it went south to connect to the western railroads at Chicago. The reason was that it was a land grant railroad, and the purpose of the MC was like the IC and WC --- to open up the wilderness of the state. (Note that the original route planned for the IC was to go up the middle the of the state. The route to Chicago was later added to the plan. And the route up the center is now abandoned.) We can see that several major cities were created along the MC mainline. Of course, that route is inefficient for freight from Detroit to the west, so they built the Airline between Jackson and Niles to shorten the route. Neither route has been successful. The Airline was abandoned west of Three Rivers before 1953 according to the topo map below, and the mainline is now owned by Amtrak to serve the cities that the MC helped create. 

Barry Sell posted via Dennis DeBruler

This excerpt shows the NYC/LS&MS route between a LS&MS east/west route near White Pigeon and Kalamazoo. According to my 2005 SPV Map, this route is now owned by NS.

1958/73 Grand Rapids and 1953/63 Fort Wayne Quads @ 250,000